Why Is Blender Missing Buttons?
Well I think I might see your problem. If you are trying to view your textures through the 3D Viewport without the need to render the scene:
There is a button that should have a white ball with up and down arrows on it aka &quot;Viewport Shading&quot; is its name and it sits to the right of &quot;Object Mode&quot; button in which that button also has up and down arrows on it. Here is a pic:

The picture you see above is the editor or &quot;3D View Editor&quot;. Now in this picture you will see that white ball im talking about next to the &quot;Object Mode&quot; button. Now click that ball in your blender &quot;3D View Editor&quot; and set it from Solid to Texture or if that does not work set from Texture or Solid to Material. If all else fails then try and get a recent version of blender.
Let me know if this does not help you in any way! :D